By Ed Butts, PE, CPI
Engineering from Error The role of failure in good design—Part 2
ere we are once again, ready to head into another winter. Winter is a time to enjoy many seasonal activities, not to mention the impending holidays. Winter should also be a time to conduct those elusive tasks we never seem to get around to when we’re otherwise busy performing those needed repairs on the drill rig, sharpening the bits, or attending training courses. Another task that always seems to be put off is to review the updated and new codes such as the revised National Electrical Code for 2014, the updated OSHA safety standards, and our respective state well construction codes. Whether we like it or not, we must all find a way to comply with these codes, one way or the other. Actually, leading off with the topic of codes is a good place to start in this second part of our discussion on the role of failure in good design. A failure to observe or comply with relevant codes can potentially cause as much of an error in design as any other single element of design, particularly since codes already do drive a fair part of design. Although I would not presume to state we all actually practice engineering in our normal day-to-day lives, I do believe almost all of us in the water well industry do regularly practice the art of design in one form or another. This can be seen in the design of a water well, a water treatment system, laying out a
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Ed Butts, PE, CPI, is the chief engineer at 4B Engineering & Consulting, Salem, Oregon. He has more than 35 years experience in the water well business, specializing in engineering and business management. He can be reached at epbpe@juno.com.
50/ November 2013 Water Well Journal
The key is to identify what the final consequence of that error was on the entire process. new shop or yard, or even a groundwater-based geothermal system. Last month we introduced the concept of design and how the art of design applies to most all of us in one way or another. This month we will expand upon and then wrap up this discussion with an outline of how our design errors, although hopefully avoidable, can actually play a real role in ultimately improving our designs.
Just What Is an Error? This is the kind of question that will often yield 10 different answers from 10 different people. Some people would prefer to call errors such terms as “booboos” or “mess-ups.” In the case of a design, I have always preferred to use the simple word: error. Consider a commonly used science and engineering dictionary’s definition of error: “a difference between the desired and actual performance or behavior of a system or object.” More simply stated in control systems engineering, an error is defined as “the difference between a set-point and the appropriate process value.” To me, an error in a design is defined as “any circumstance or event that results in or causes the product of a design to not function as intended or planned.” That’s it. You may notice nowhere in that definition will you find “mess-up,”
nor will you see the words “destruction” or “failure.” That’s because I don’t feel all errors can be narrowed down to that extent. To be sure, that doesn’t mean all errors are or should be regarded as simple and without any consequence. For example, trying to define the space shuttle Challenger’s total destruction in 1986, which resulted from a failed O-ring on a solid rocket booster due to excessively cold temperatures, as nothing more than a “basic design error” and not what it truly was—“a major, major mess-up”—would be both disingenuous and an insult to the seven fallen crewmembers. The key is to identify and recognize an error in design for what it really is and what the final consequence of that error was on the entire process or outcome. For this we are forced to be totally honest and objective during the analysis of the error. That is a very difficult task indeed, especially if it is our error that we are charged with evaluating. If a water well or water system individual truly wants to be regarded as a “professional” by our peers, we don’t have a choice in the matter. Most people will see the error you made just as easy as your customer, your boss, or an inspector will (at least one of whom I can almost guarantee will notice it). Now, here is where the ordinary selflabeled “grunt” will usually rise to inform me that is all they are, a grunt. So what do they have to worry about since they don’t ever do anything that rises to the level of “design” anyway? My response is: “Do you really believe that?”
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